Once upon a time, it was
possible to prevent personal data from getting into the hands of the wrong
person by using a paper shredder and a bit of common sense.
However, with the rise of digital culture and social sharing, information
traditionally shared between friends – such as relationship status, personal
photographs, birthdays and even cell phone numbers – can be inadvertently
accessible to anyone with a bit of Google search know-how.
For many people, social networking has become a normalized part of social
life. As the most established and widely used social networking site,
Facebook contains ‘years of details’ about its users’ lives.
The consequences of this information being public can range from anything as
serious as identity theft, to making those photos from your friend’s
bachelorette party available to prospective employers.
Studies have shown that although 92% of internet users worry about their
online privacy, only 29% have taken steps to change their privacy settings
to ensure greater protection on social networking sites.
The fact that this information isn’t automatically private doesn’t mean that
Facebook doesn’t offer users the option to be selective about the
information they share publicly, it’s just up to the user to activate these
features for themselves.
Being aware of your privacy settings is empowering in a number of ways.
Firstly, you can selectively share positive information about yourself on
your public profile. For example, it might be useful to share a piece of
work that you’re proud of publicly, but keep controversial political
opinions for friends only.
Secondly, you reduce the risk of your account being compromised and your
personal information being exploited.
With this in mind, on Safer Internet Day, we show you how to customize your
Facebook privacy settings.

1. Choose a secure password

A weak password can leave
your account vulnerable to being improperly accessed, yet a surprising
number of people choose obvious, easily guessable words or phrases.

A good password should be a random word that is at least 10 characters
long, with a mixture of upper and lower case characters.

Using something random but relevant – say a word from the 10th page of
your favorite book – ensures that your password is obscure without
being irretrievable, should you forget it.

2.
Setup login alert

Switch on login alerts on
Facebook to receive a notification whenever someone logs onto your account
from a new device.

If someone attempts to access your account then you will instantly receive
an email notifying you of this, which gives you the option of changing your
password.

3) Set up login approvals

One step further than a
login alert, a login approval means that you will need to input a
security code every time someone attempts to access your Facebook
account from a new device.

The security code will be unique each time and sent to you via your
registered cell phone number.

4) Set up your posts to be shared
with ‘Friends only’

Set ‘Friends only’ as a default setting on all your posts. If you wish
to share something publicly you can change the privacy on a
post-by-post basis.

5) Check who can see your personal
information

Such as physical address,
email address or phone number. Set these to be seen by ‘Me Only’ for
maximum privacy.

6)
Change who can see posts from friends on your timeline

Avoid sharing your happy birthday messages with the world by limiting
who can see posts from your friends in timeline and tagging settings.

7) Set up tag approvals

Review all tagged photos of yourself before they appear on your
timeline. You can’t control other people’s privacy settings, but you
can prevent yourself being the front cover of your own personal
tabloid newspaper!

8) Customize the visibility
settings for each individual post

Keep in mind which information will enhance your public profile and
which could damage it.
As we mentioned at the start, whereas it may be useful to publicly
share a piece of work that you’re proud of, you might prefer to keep
controversial political opinions for friends only.

9) Never agree to connect
with anyone who you don’t know

Agreeing to ‘Friend’ a stranger allows them access to your public
profile. Also something to be kept in mind when connecting with
colleagues or new acquaintances.

10) Remember, Facebook
has two sides.

Your public profile should be more formal with the consideration that
a future employer may see it.
Your ‘friends only’ profile is for people who are interested in you
and your private life.

"...Each February, Symantec sees
a spike in both the availability and downloads of apps related to
Valentine's Day and dating. The following chart is indicative of how many
applications of these types were downloaded (yellow line, left scale) and
how many distinct apps were downloaded ...."

'....Whether you’re using your parents’ password, you share an account
with a spouse, or you somehow still have your freshman-year roommate’s
uncle’s login information, sharing Netflix credentials is a near-universal
experience for the modern couch potato.

But many Netflix users are unwittingly sharing their account with
unwelcome guests, too. On thriving online black markets, vast troves of
Netflix accounts are on sale for just pennies per login.....'

'....A security company has identified a vulnerability in e-commerce
site eBay which could leave customers exposed to phishing attacks.

Check Point on Friday announced that it had discovered a flaw that
allows attackers to bypass the trading site’s validation and control.
This could leave customer computers exposed to malicious Java code....'

'...Currently, the company’s only foray into VR has been the Cardboard—a
literal piece of cardboard that sells for about $20, which users can
strap any cellphone into to get a somewhat more immersive video-watching
experience than just holding a phone in their hands. According to the
FT, Google is looking to build a more robust version of that headset,
made of plastic and with additional motion-tracking sensors, akin to
what Samsung released late last year with the Gear VR...'

'...Cisco says Q2 saw 1,100 new Nexus 9K customers for a total installed
base of almost 6,100. ACI gained nearly 300 new customers, bringing the
company’s total to over 1,400 since it began shipping in August, 2014.

By comparison, SDN rival VMware saw a threefold increase in the number
of paying customers for its NSX network virtualization product from 2014
to 2015, to 1,200. VMware NSX began shipping in Q4 of 2013....'

'...Teenagers, a historically wily demographic, are increasingly moving
their digital social lives from public sites where their parents hang
out to smartphone messaging apps, giving them nearly complete privacy in
their online social lives.

Apps such as Kik, Line, WhatsApp, Ask.fm and Whisper can often be used
anonymously, without parental controls, and in Snapchat’s case even
automatically erase inappropriate pictures. The popularity of these apps
is showing up in surveys and focus groups. Kik’s use has soared to 40
percent of teens....'

'...For most Android users, the seven tools below should cover all the
important bases of device and data security. Some are third-party apps,
while others are native parts of the Android operating system. They all,
however, will protect your personal info in meaningful ways -- and
without compromising your phone's performance. Plus, all but two of them
are free..."

"...Adobe Systems has
stopped distributing a recently issued update to its Creative Cloud
graphics service amid reports a Mac version can delete important user
data without warning or permission.

The deletions happen whenever Mac users log in to the Adobe service
after the update has been installed, according to officials from
Backblaze, a data backup service whose users are being
disproportionately inconvenienced by the bug. Upon sign in, a script
activated by Creative Cloud deletes the contents in the alphabetically
first folder in a Mac's root directory. Backblaze users are being
especially hit by the bug because the backup service relies on data
stored in a hidden root folder called .bzvol. Because the folder is the
alphabetically top-most hidden folder at the root of so many users'
drives, they are affected more than users of many other software
packages..."

"...Once
upon a time, it was possible to prevent personal data from getting into
the hands of the wrong person by using a paper shredder and a bit of
common sense.
However, with the rise of digital culture and social sharing,
information traditionally shared between friends – such as relationship
status, personal photographs, birthdays and even cell phone numbers –
can be inadvertently accessible to anyone with a bit of Google search
know-how.
For many people, social networking has become a normalized part of
social life. As the most established and widely used social networking
site, Facebook contains ‘years of details’ about its users’ lives..."

"...Our team at Heimdal Security has recently analyzed a text message
sent to random mobile numbers. The Geographical extent is so far
unknown, so please exercise caution.
The SMS / MMS in question arrives with the following contents (sanitized
by Heimdal Security):.."